I'm aliiIIIVVVVE!!!

Installed MSN 7.0 at work. I'm re-connected.

My work is already taking a blow.

My blog counter is working again. This is the number on next to the blog name on your dashboard when you log into blogger.com. Since I first noticed that counter, it's been stuck at 78. And today, it jumped to 301. So, 302 including this post.

For better or worse...

Recent tragic events at my company have me questioning my loyalty. Our IT department has outsourced guys from another company to come in and help with support. At the same time, these so called "helpers" have installed "Websense Enterprise" over our network which is counteracting all extra-curricular attempts.

For example, if I try to go to www.friendster.com, I get an error:

Access to this web page is restricted at this time.

Reason: The Websense category "Personals and Dating" is filtered.

And I can't connect to MSN. I was able to use Trillian for a couple of weeks, but it wasn't really stable. It would crash about 10 times a day, but at least I would be able to connect and chat when needed. But it's worse now, because now it crashes as soon as I open the application. I've all but given up.

I tried to go online to the Trillian website for help, but...

Access to this web page is restricted at this time.

Reason: The Websense category "Instant Messaging" is filtered.

Son of a ... Does this mean I'm going to have to focus on my WORK from now on?

There's a fine line between what's right and what's wrong. I went to the washroom and one of our colleagues was standing at a urinal brushing his teeth with his left hand and holding below with his right.

I shook the mayor of Taipei's hand. It was around 9pm on a weeknight, and I was eating some thin noodles just outside a temple -- the front entrance of the temple is surrounded by eats selling the Hsinchu specialties meatballs, rice noodles, and meat dumplings. The mayor (Ma Ying-jeou) is campaigning to be the GuoMingTang political party's head man. So I guess after-hours, he was still making visits to less crowded areas with a very small entourage. I don't care for his party and I don't know his political views, I wanted to shake his hand because he is a man of importance.

I found this photo out of my photo archives. Taken exactly one year ago, July 5, 2004 after rollerblading down by the Sea Wall.

Just because I'm living in a different country, it doesn't mean I'm not going to celebrate Canada Day. So on Friday, July 1, my brother, AC, and MC went to The Brass Monkey to celebrate Canada Day, where they held an event in honour of our country's birthday.

Ben sported his "Canada Kicks Ass" t-shirt, me my Roots Canadian Olympics sleeveless, AC had a Canadian flag (well, it was mine, really) and for having a maple leaf on us, we each got a free Canadian beer (Blanche de Chambly from Quebec). As usual, when I'm at the Monkey, I got a few games of foosball, and was surprised to see some competitive players! I teamed up with a Newfie and took two games before losing to one guy who played alone. He was good, but we should have had him. Unfortunately, my partner couldn't help himself and kept throwing the ball straight into the opponent's player and getting stuffed.

And then there were the boatraces. I wasn't sure how many teams there started with, but BC was represented, as was Ontario. And then there was a team of New Zealanders as well. A boatrace, for those unfamiliar, is where you sit in a line with your team and from the front to the back, each person must finish a cup of beer. The team to finish first wins. The finals were between Ontario and New Zealand, and I think Ontario won.

It was nice to sing the Canadian national anthem -- especially away from home. Also nice to see some Canucks shirts (as seen in the photos). The night was capped by us briefly meeting the husky fellow in the second photo. This burly man saw Ben's shirt and very very slowly read the "Canada Kicks Ass" as he ran his finger across Ben's chest -- clearly heavily intoxicated. Then he unbuttoned two buttons of his shirt to unveil his Canadian pride. He and I then chatted as he told me his wife is Taiwanese and they have a daughter. And he continued about how his niece who was studying in the States came to Taiwan during her break and they were out at some place, him, his wife, and his niece. While they were playing some dice game, he went to use the washroom; and on his way to the washroom, some guy grabs him from behind and asked him "How much did you pay for those girls?" Of course, that question infuriated this man who was standing in front of me slurring his words. He grabbed the guy and threw him across the room. Now... as he was telling me this, he was reliving the moment in his obvious stupor. And as he raised his voice and said "That fvckin' guy was talking about my baby!!", his face grew into the kind that is usually followed by a fit of violence. I actually thought he might try to throw ME across the room. Well, perhaps it was one of those you-had-to-have-been-there kind of moments. Soon after, he calmed down, his wife appeared, and he introduced me to his wife and said I was a very nice man.

Happy Canada Day!! (on Friday)

Keeping in theme with the last couple posts, a little more on cockroaches.

In Taiwan, they're also called 小強 (xiao3 qiang2 -- or little mighty) because they're hard to kill.

What I found interesting after I took that photo is that its head is covered by a protective shield. I don't think I've gotten close enough to a cockroach to notice.

Also, if you look at what you can see of the cockroach's underside, it bares a similar ressemblance to the underside (and legs) of shrimp. This is why in some places in the world, including Turkey as my Turkish ex-coworker told me, they do not eat some seafoods such as shrimp, crayfish, etc. They consider such vermin as "insects of the sea". Which, if you think about it, makes sense. Just look at those things. Bugs.

As I described in my previous blog, I had a new pet. So following posting that blog, I headed out to buy some food and a nice home for my new companion. From the supermarket, I got 5 homes and 5 pills in one pack for 59nt. I took two out and set them up along two separate walls near my bed, hoping to find my pet in his new home the next morning.

Next morning... nothing.

After work... nothing.

And before I went for a haircut, I moved one home closer to my bed and headed out the door. After 40 minutes, I got home and found Mr. Cockroach sheltered from the harsh conditions of my ceiling fan. Whew. Lucky guy. As you can see, I've posted some pictures.

Oh, and that tentacle you see in the photos is the "thread-like thing" I saw sticking out of my flower cup.

DAMN.

I've been out of my house for about 4 - 5 days. I just stepped in, and I noticed a cup with flowers I placed on my night table. I peered in and noticed a little thin thread-like thing sticking out, so I looked a little closer. As I gave the cup a nudge, a cockroach popped out and ran down the side of my night table, disappearing behind it.

CRAP. I have a cockroach. ARGH. I hate cockroaches, and until now, my place seemed free of them. Online, solutions seems to be to mix borax with powdered sugar or cocoa powder. Hmm... but since I'm not much into making my own poison (plus the fact that I don't know where to get borax), I'm going to head down to a store to buy some poison.

CRUD.